11Mar14

Europe and Asia should be connected via a multifaceted transport corridor which
is bound to give a fresh impetus to global economy and possibly pull the world
out of the economic crisis, President of the Russian Railways monopoly (RZD),
Doctor of Political Sciences Vladimir Yakunin said while presenting the major
project at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The project suggests a Trans-Eurasian Development Belt that would include not
only railway lines but also oil, gas and water pipelines, electric lines and all kinds
of communication from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The venture can call into
existence 10-15 new industries, new cities and a huge number of jobs and
promote the development of Siberia and Russian Far East, said Yakunin.

According to Yakunin, the realization of such large international projects can lend
the global economy new quality and even pull the world out of the economic
crisis. The project's supertask is "to develop Russia as a nucleus of civilization"
as well as areas from the Pacific to the Atlantic integrated with Russia.

Yakunin admitted the grand project's costs would certainly come up to trillion of
rubles but believes the belt should bear fruit. He hopes the GDP will grow.

The project is co-authored by the Director of Institute of Socio-Political Research
of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Osipov and rector of Lomonosov
Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy.

This is going to be an international project with the participation of any country
willing to partake. One of the speakers, Director of Center of Central Russian and
Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of International Studies told the
meeting about plans to link the Development Belt to the Silk Road economic belt.

[Source: Ria Novosti, Moscow, 11Mar14]

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